The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

To "throw down the gauntlet" is to issue a challenge. A gauntlet-wearing knight would challenge a fellow knight or enemy to a duel by throwing one of his gauntlets on the ground. The opponent would pick up the gauntlet to accept the challenge.
- Wikipedia

This evening, as I was preparing to feed, Guinness actually reared up and got his hoof hung for a moment in his wall mounted feeder! This PROVES that his rearing is a dominance tactic. I was amazed that he had the chutzpah to try this, since for the past year or so our routine has been for him to back out of the run-in and wait for me to feed him!!

The cool thing was that I happened to have a carrot stick next to me and I managed to whack the rail just in front of him right as it was happening and drove him out of the run-in. Next I fed Smokey, and G. attempted to run him off of his feed, so I drove Guinness all the way out again.

I grabbed his chow and trotted out to the roundpen (in the field) with him following at liberty, then locked the gate. I dumped his feed into a rubber bowl in the center of the arena, and played "if you do what I want, then I'll let you eat a little bit of dinner." Surprisingly, I think that he actually enjoyed the challenge.

He offered to speed-back until his rump hit the rail (30'), then I allowed him to come in to have a bite, then backed him out again. When he stopped at about 6' away, I moved quickly through phases 2 & 3, then flicked his chest with the string and he zoomed back and waited with both ears pricked forward. After waiting a minute, I drove him in a trotting circle 1 lap around, then brought him in. We repeated this with different variations, until he completed dinner.

Toward the end, my husband released the other horses and I defended G. as he finished his dinner. He showed absolutely no concern as I tossed the string over his back as he ate.

I'm going to aim to do this at every meal for awhile. I'd bet in a week or so, he'll be offering to canter multiple laps in Circling Game.

Boss Mare controls the food. I accept your challenge little horse!